Pastor Creflo Dollar Denies Attacking Daughter

Pastor Creflo Dollar Denies Attacking Daughter

Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar denied from his pulpit punching and choking his 15-year-old daughter, telling his congregation the allegations made in a police report were nothing but "exaggeration and sensationalism," the Associated Press reports. "I will say this emphatically: I should have never been arrested," Dollar said Sunday, his first public appearance since police charged him with misdemeanor counts of simple battery and cruelty to children two days before. "I want you all to hear personally from me that all is well in the Dollar household," he said. "The truth is that a family conversation with our youngest daughter got emotional. And emotions got involved and things escalated from there." Dollar got an enthusiastic ovation from the church before moving on to his sermon. The 50-year-old pastor was arrested around 1 a.m. Friday after his 15-year-old daughter called 911 and said she and her father had an argument when he said she couldn't go to a party. According to the police report, the girl told a deputy her father charged at her, put his hands around her throat, began to punch her and started hitting her with his shoe -- an account corroborated her 19-year-old sister. The deputy noted a scratch on the girl's neck, but Dollar said it had been caused by a skin condition, eczema.